


Nighttime Cold Medicine

by MelissaWritesStuff



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Sick Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-25
Updated: 2014-10-25
Packaged: 2018-02-22 14:56:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2511761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelissaWritesStuff/pseuds/MelissaWritesStuff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Getting up in the middle of the night to pee really shouldn't have been such a huge commitment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nighttime Cold Medicine

The camp started off with two disastrous mistakes on Tsukishima’s part.

The first was that he forgot his headphones. His _headphones_. He had to actually listen to all of Hinata and Kageyama’s bickering, all of Tanaka and Nishinoya’s antics, and all of Daichi and Suga’s failed attempts to get them all to shut up. Tsukishima tried desperately to tune them all out, but without the aid of raised volume and noise cancellation, it was hopeless. Listening to them all was _exhausting_. And then, after all that, he stepped off the bus and right into a practice match, as Nekoma and Fukurodani were already there and practicing when Karasuno arrived. From there, the rest of the day was desperate attempts to avoid Bokuto and Kuroo, after they’d made him their personal project last time. Fuck, if Tsukishima never spoke to either of them again, it’d be too soon.

It didn’t matter at all that Tsukishima had actually been thinking about Kuroo a lot since he’d seen him last, and had had way too many dreams about him, and had stopped paying attention in class on more than one occasion while daydreaming about Kuroo. It didn’t matter at all that that a significant majority of these thoughts and dreams and fantasies involved him and Kuroo in a romantic (and occasionally inappropriate) situation. It didn’t matter at all, because there was no way in _hell_ Tsukishima was going to act on a single one of them. Boys don’t go after other boys, and especially not boys from opposing teams, or boys that were annoying as hell, or boys that were Kuroo Tetsurou.

After a day that was entirely too long, Tsukishima fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, so it wasn’t exactly amusing when only an hour or two in, his bladder woke him up. As he shuffled out of the room Karasuno was sleeping in, he felt as slow and brain dead as a zombie. Or possibly Kageyama. Either way, once out of the room, it took him ten times as long as it should’ve to decide whether he wanted to go to the men’s room or use the toilets in the locker room. The deciding factor ended up being that he didn’t remember where the men’s room was, and with that, he shuffled on to the locker room.

Which was his second awful mistake.

Even though it was about two in the morning, one of the showers clearly and loudly running as he stepped inside, the air thick and humid with steam. He didn’t really give a shit who it was (again, a terrible, _terrible_ mistake). He was tired and he had to pee, so he ignored it and he made his way to the bathroom stalls, barely lifting his feet with each step he took, the light scuffles of his slippers barely audible over the gentle hiss of running water.

Then, just as Tsukishima locked the stall door behind him, whoever was showering broke into a disgusting and rather horrific coughing fit, sniffling between attempts to catch their breath whenever the phlegmy coughs would subside. There was a grumbled “just fucking kill me now” somewhere in there, and the voice was pretty familiar, but Tsukishima was way too tired to try racking his brain to match the voice up to a name or face.

Still, it was harder to ignore after Tsukishima flushed the toilet and the other guy finally heard that someone else was in the locker room, and barked out a hoarse, “Who’s there?”

“Relax, I’m leaving, I just had to the use bathroom,” Tsukishima grumbled as he tried to go on his less than merry way.

“Tsukki?”

Tsukishima froze. Oh, _fuck_ no. _Maybe I’m dreaming._

_Hopefully it’s not one of_ those _dreams again..._

The water was shut off and Tsukishima slowly turned around in horror as a soaked, towel-clad, and close-to-death Kuroo emerged from the showers. _This definitely looks like one of those dreams, anyway. Minus the close-to-death part._

Tsukishima cleared his throat. “You look like hell,” he noted, focusing on the dark circles under Kuroo’s eyes and absolutely nothing below his chin, no matter how tempting it was and how devastatingly good it looked in Tsukishima’s peripheral vision.

“And I feel worse,” Kuroo groaned, sniffling and wiping his nose on the back of his hand. _Disgusting._ Although, disgusting was good. It stopped Tsukishima from thinking anything else he _really_ shouldn’t have been thinking.

“So why don’t you just go home?” Tsukishima suggested. _It would make my week a lot easier._

Kuroo looked absolutely offended by the suggestion. “I’m the _captain_ , Tsukki.”

“Don’t call me-”

“I _have_ to be here.”

Tsukishima sighed. He’d never understand people like this. “Then why don’t you just sit out of practice?”

“Like hell am I gonna do that,” Kuroo said with a chuckle that quickly turned into another nasty coughing fit.

“Kuroo, you’re _dying_.”

“It’s not... Christ... It’s not that bad,” Kuroo wheezed out once he got a hold of his lungs.

Tsukishima just laughed. “There’s no way the rest of your team is gonna let you practice like that.”

“That’s exactly why they’re not going to find out,” Kuroo snapped.

That just made Tsukishima laugh harder. “How the hell are you going to hide this? You look disgusting.”

“You’re not bad yourself, Tsukki.”

Tsukishima just shook his head. “I’m serious. There’s no way.”

“Well, I mean, that’s why I’m here now,” Kuroo grumbled with a sort of helpless gesture to the showers. “The steam helps me breathe and the heat helps me not feel like shit every time I move.”

“Do you have any cold medicine?”

“Nope. And I can’t ask anyone without completely giving myself away.”

“You poor bastard,” Tsukishima laughed.

“Yeah, very funny,” Kuroo mumbled. The heat from his shower seemed to be wearing off and Kuroo was starting to shiver, so he quickly turned to go get dressed. _Thank God._

“Why are you so desperate to practice anyway?” Tsukishima called after him. “I’m sure you’ll survive taking a few days off.”

“I’m glad you think I’m so talented, Tsukki.”

_Bastard._ “That’s not what I-”

“But that’s not the point. I’m a third-year. This is my last camp.” Kuroo sniffled again. “I’m not missing this for anything.”

“Even death?”

“Especially not death.”

“Well, at least you’re prepared.”

“Hey, Tsukki,” Kuroo said, peeking out from around the corner as he pulled a clean T-shirt over his head. _Why did black have to suit him so well?_ “Do you think you could-”

“No.”

Kuroo just laughed at that, still sounding gross and phlegmy but as smug as ever. “I didn’t even finish my sentence.”

Tsukishima sighed. “What?”

“Do you think you could run to the drug store a few blocks away and get me some cold medicine?”

“ _Fuck_ no.”

“Tsukki, please,” Kuroo begged, not even trying to be cool about it anymore before he was clapping his hands together in front of his face and bowing.

“No.”

“Please.”

“How pathetic are you?”

Before Kuroo could answer, he broke his form as his lungs surprised him with yet another coughing fit, sinking to his knees and trying to cover his mouth with his arm.

“That pathetic, huh?” Tsukishima sighed. “I assume you’ll be paying me back?”

Kuroo nodded frantically, only to stop and clutch his head in pain from the rapid motion.

“And if I get caught, you’re taking the blame for me, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course.”

“And you definitely owe me one, right?” Tsukishima said, grinning to himself as he thought about all the different ways he could milk this favor for all it was worth.

_None_ of which would involve Tsukishima’s dreams.

“Whatever you say, Tsukki.” _Don’t tempt me._

Still, without a second thought, Tsukishima turned on his heel and headed for the door. “Deal.”

~

Getting up in the middle of the night to pee really shouldn’t have ended being such a big commitment.

While having Kuroo owe him a favor was a pretty good deal, Tsukishima decided it probably wasn’t actually worth it as he was shuffling back from the drugstore at now almost three in the morning. It may have been summer, but it was early enough in the morning that Tsukishima was shivering by the time he got back to Nekoma. _If I catch a fucking cold after this..._

He stepped into the locker room fully prepared to state his list of demands, only to find Kuroo curled up in a ball against the lockers, his arms pulled into the hoodie he’d donned while Tsukishima was gone and his body visibly shaking. Tsukishima had to actually stop himself from moving forward to help him out of some weird, motherly instinct. Well. Maybe it was less than motherly. Tsukishima wasn’t sure what it was. Whatever it was, it was unpleasant and he didn’t have any desire to feel it again.

“Tsukki?” Kuroo groaned weakly at the sound of the door opening.

“You’re pathetic,” Tsukishima sighed as he walked toward Kuroo, forcing himself to slow down and calmly hand over the medicine.

“You’re a saint,” Kuroo mumbled as he slid an arm through his sleeve to take the brown paper bag from Tsukishima.

“I mean, you still owe me for this,” Tsukishima reminded him. Kuroo’s face was flushed, and Tsukishima instinctively reached out and touched his forehead to feel for a fever. It wasn’t until his hand made contact with Kuroo’s skin that he realized it was probably weird, but at least if Kuroo thought so, he didn’t say anything.

“Am I dying?” he mumbled as he dug through the bag for his medicine.

“You’re not dying, but you’re a little hotter than you should be,” Tsukishima said, desperately hoping he didn’t sound as awkward as he felt as he pulled his hand away.

Kuroo just grinned. “Thanks, Tsukki. Means a lot coming from you.”

It took Tsukishima a moment to realize was Kuroo was getting at. Just long enough that denying it sounded like a complete lie.

“W-wait, I didn’t-”

“Whatever you say, Tsukki,” Kuroo chuckled, reading the back of the bottle to see how much he was supposed to take.

Tsukishima frowned. “I take it back. I hope you die.”

“Aw, don’t be like that, Tsukki.”

“Stop calling me-”

“I think you’re a little hotter than you should be, too,” Kuroo said before downing a capful of his medicine like a shot.

“ _What_?!”

“Keep your voice down,” Kuroo muttered. “I don’t want anyone else finding us.”

Tsukishima’s thoughts were racing just as fast as his heart was. _Is he serious right now? Was he joking? Or did he actually mean that? He’s just screwing with me, right? Trying to get a reaction? That’s what he does, isn’t it?_

_Oh, God, why do I care?!_

Kuroo, however, was completely unfazed by the comment he’d just made. He wasn’t even _watching_ Tsukishima for a reaction. _Does that mean he wasn’t just messing with me?_ “This should take about thirty minutes to kick in,” Kuroo said with a sniffle. “Care to wait with me?”

Tsukishima wrinkled his nose. “Why would I do that?”

“I’ll owe you another favor.”

“Not worth it.”

“Please?” Kuroo practically whimpered. Tsukishima froze at that, having no idea that someone like Kuroo could sound so small. “I don’t want to wait here alone.”

“Why don’t you just go back to your room?”

“I have to wait for it to start working or everyone’ll hear me sneezing and coughing.”

Tsukishima sighed, sitting down on the ground and leaning against the row of lockers opposite the ones Kuroo was against.

Kuroo sniffled. “Thanks,” he mumbled.

“You still owe me.”

“What kind of music do you listen to?”

Tsukishima frowned, caught off guard by the random question. “Huh?”

“You listen to a lot of music, right?” Kuroo sniffled.

“How did you know that?”

“Last time I saw you,” Kuroo said, looking down and chuckling to himself. “You had really nice headphones, right? The good, expensive kind. I figured you wouldn’t get those unless you really like music.”

“That’s kind of creepy,” Tsukishima mumbled to hide the fact that he was really, really pleased that Kuroo had taken notice of him like that.

_How pathetic are you?_ Tsukishima asked himself miserably.

“Music. Go.”

Tsukishima cleared his throat before listing off a few bands, and immediately after, Kuroo asked what his favorite songs and albums were. Tsukishima was surprised by how Kuroo genuinely looked like he cared about Tsukishima’s answers, even as Tsukishima accidentally started to go on and on about stuff Kuroo probably didn’t even entirely understand without actually knowing what artists Tsukishima was talking about. Still, he kept the conversation going, kept asking questions, keeping his attention locked completely on everything Tsukishima had to say.

“I think it’s cool that you’re so into this stuff,” Kuroo said once Tsukishima finished. “You’re cute when you get really into talking about it.”

Tsukishima’s face immediately caught fire. “ _What_?”

“Sorry, I think the medicine’s starting to kick in,” Kuroo laughed.

“Why do you keep saying stuff like that?” Tsukishima muttered, not daring to look Kuroo in the eye.

“What, that I think you’re cute?”

“You said I was hot earlier, too.”

“Oh, I did, didn’t I?”

Tsukishima couldn’t take it anymore and buried his face in his hands. “You didn’t _realize_?”

“Sorry. I get kind of tongue-tied around you.”

“ _Why_?” Tsukishima groaned.

“I like you.”

“ _What_?!”

Kuroo just burst out laughing.

_Yeah, the medicine is definitely kicking in._ Tsukishima sighed and stood up. “C’mon, let’s take you back to your team.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t know I like you!” Kuroo was still laughing as Tsukishima helped him to his feet. “Why did you think I wanted to help you so much last time?”

“Bokuto-san was the one that needed me to block for him,” Tsukishima mumbled, dying of embarrassment as he and Kuroo shuffled out of the locker room.

“Hell of a wingman, isn’t he?” Kuroo sighed as he finally started to get a hold of himself. “I don’t think I made that great an impression on you, though.”

“No, you didn’t,” Tsukishima admitted. _So then why the fuck did it work?_

“It was worth a shot, though, right?” Kuroo shrugged.

“You’re giving up then?” Tsukishima asked, extremely torn on whether on actually wanted Kuroo to or not.

“It’s not like you’d go to dinner with me if I asked,” Kuroo laughed. “Right?”

Tsukishima didn’t respond.

“Right?”

Again, silence.

“ _Oh, my God_!”

“ _Shh_!”

“Tsukki-!" 

“Keep your voice down, asshole!”

“Tsukki,” Kuroo whispered, “will you have dinner with me sometime?”

Tsukishima couldn’t bring himself to answer, he was so fucking mortified... It didn’t help when Kuroo suddenly threw his arms around Tsukishima and nuzzled his gross, sick face into Tsukishima’s shoulder.

“What the fuck, get off me!” _Why does his shampoo have to smell so good?_

“Pleeeaaase?”

“Yeah, fine, whatever, just get _off_!” _God, why is he so warm?_

Kuroo finally pulled away from Tsukishima, smiling softly in a way that look so unlike him, his eyes heavy and sleepy. “Thanks for helping me, Tsukki,” he mumbled before yawning.

“Never take nighttime cold medicine again.”

Kuroo just chuckled. “Tsukki-”

“ _Stop calling me Tsukki_.”

Kuroo paused, looking at Tsukishima for a moment before leaning in a pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Alright, Kei.”

And before Tsukishima could even _dream_ of responding to that, Kuroo turned around and walked away, heading back to bed on his own.

~

The only evidence Tsukishima had that last night hadn’t been all one stupid dream was waking up with both a receipt from the drugstore in his pocket and Kuroo’s fucking cold.

It was decided immediately by everyone else that Tsukishima couldn’t practice, and Tanaka’s sister would come pick him up and take him home as soon as she could make it up from Miyagi.

_This is fucking terrible,_ Tsukishima thought miserably to himself, an angry bundle of borrowed jackets and blankets as he shuffled into the gym Karasuno was having their first practice match of the day in. _There’s no way a cap of cold medicine fixed this. Kuroo’s done for. He’s-_

“Hey, Tsukki!”

_Just fucking kill me now._

The absolutely last thing Tsukishima wanted to be greeted with upon entering the gym was a smug, grinning, perfectly healthy Kuroo Tetsurou.

“I heard you’re going home sick,” Kuroo said. “That’s a real shame, I was looking forward to practicing with you this week.”

“How are you not dead?” Tsukishima mumbled, glancing around to make sure no one else was listening. “This is hell.”

“Oh, I’m absolutely dying right now,” Kuroo murmured with a sniffle. Once Tsukishima had a closer look at him, he could see the circles under his eyes and his bloodshot eyes. _There it is._ “But like I said. I’m not missing this for anything.”

“You owe me so fucking much.”

“Oh, absolutely. And I hope a date is still one of those things.”

Tsukishima looked away and pulled his blankets tighter around himself. “Yeah, fine,” he mumbled.

“Feel better soon, Tsukki,” Kuroo said with a grin.

“You too. And stop calling me Tsukki.”

“Does this mean I can call you Kei?”

Tsukishima’s eyes widened in horror, blushing at just the _memory_ of last night. “ _God_ , no.”


End file.
